I think this may come back to being clear about what you want to achieve. If your aim is to persuade people to agree with whatever stance FOC wish to push in the present discussion, then you should simply plan how you can best get that opinion across. This will vary with the situation - it might mean providing links, it might mean wording the topic in your own way so as to appeal to the readership that you know you personally have. And sometimes your judgement of how to best present the case might mean going off on what appear to be some very unrelated tangents - because those might well draw in people who would otherwise not be interested or receptive.
If however your aim is to clarify your own thoughts by discussing them with your flist then that is a separate matter. I would say that can still be useful to the FOC, but in a more abstract way - you are no use to them as an ally unless you are clear about things in your own mind. But if you wish to avoid the risk of derailing then it should maybe begin with some clear explanations about what you are doing and why, and certainly provide links back to the real discussion, and perhaps often as not it would be more appropriate under a flock.
Finally, if your aim is to win fame and glory and host a big discussion by riffing off the interest in the main discussion, than that probably is an unworthy aim and you should stop yourself.
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If however your aim is to clarify your own thoughts by discussing them with your flist then that is a separate matter. I would say that can still be useful to the FOC, but in a more abstract way - you are no use to them as an ally unless you are clear about things in your own mind. But if you wish to avoid the risk of derailing then it should maybe begin with some clear explanations about what you are doing and why, and certainly provide links back to the real discussion, and perhaps often as not it would be more appropriate under a flock.
Finally, if your aim is to win fame and glory and host a big discussion by riffing off the interest in the main discussion, than that probably is an unworthy aim and you should stop yourself.